Mary L Evans

My Great Grandmother Mary Louisa Evans was born April 26, 1873 and the following are the brothers and sisters: A. Andy – born Dec. 21, 1877; Katy – Aug. 24, 1879; William Thomas – born Mar. 3,1882; Rosie – 1889; Robert Calvin -May 12, 1893. My G-Grandmother married John Henry Elcain “Cain” Southern Aug. 7, 1890. It is said she was born in Hackett, Sebastian Co., AR. According to funeral home record father’s name was John, mother was unknown. Cain and Mary lived most of their marriage in Bokoshe, LeFlore Co., OK. Mary died May 31, 1971 at the Spiro Nursing Home in Spiro, OK. I think she got her Social Security card in 1966 in AR. Grandma Southern said that her mother was Choctaw Indian. We can find no records past what I have.

she would have applied for social security 1/1/1937, submitted a birth record or delayed birth certificate to show proof of age. she would have known her parents names. (you have to ask for birth certificate or delayed birth certificate.) i would recommend that you get this document. did she have an obituary?

all of her brothers and sisters names were fairly common.
but there is a problem with their names/birthdates.
william thomas evans should be on the world war I draft cards. so should robert calvin evans. and they are not showing up there.

so how did you get these exact birthdates for the brothers and sisters?

genealogists use names, dates, locations, children and spouses to match records. if you have a common surname, you need to give more information rather than less. if you post about women, it is helpful to include the maiden name and the married name and designate which one is the maiden name.

start with what you know, gather documentation, then you can go backward in time. so get your birth certificate, your parents’ birth certificates and marriage license and then you can start on your grandparents. if someone passed away after 1/1/1937, they probably have a social security application on file. if you ask a government for a birth certificate, and they were born before 1929, they might have sumitted a delayed birth certificate. death certificates, cemetery information and obituaries are helpful. you can usually get a copy of an obituary, newspaper mentions such as birth of a child or marriage, through the interlibrary loan program – see your local public library for this. i usually start with the death and work toward the person’s birth. military records and pension records can be helpful. census records can tell you where they were at particular times. the census records up to 1930 are available, although the 1890 census was largely destroyed. the 1940 census will be public information in 2012.

first of all, heritage and tribal enrollment are two different things. many times natives didn’t apply for enrollment because 1) they didn’t qualify, 2) they were philosophically opposed to enrollment, 3) they didn’t have documentation, or 4) they were mississippi choctaw and their ancestor had accepted land or benefits in lieu of tribal enrollment.

the dawes roll was taken 1896-1906, so you should trace your ancestors down to that time period. mostly, they had to be living in oklahoma by that time and agree to live there permanently.

2 ways to search:
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/finalroll.php
this will let you enter partial names to get card#. click on the card# in the card column and you can see other names in that family.
other resources on the left and at the bottom of this webpage. native census records and databases are especially useful.

http://www.okhistory.org/research/dawes/index.php
this will give you card# (family group) and enrollment #. they have some native marriage records too. other oklahoma records listed at left.
if the name is common, you may find too many possible records.

the tribe has an excellent information to help you. it is found under genealogy advocacy.
http://choctawnation.com/services/departments/community-services/

NARA http://www.archives.gov/ federal records repository. the fort worth, TX office has archives for oklahoma and texas tribes. atlanta/morrow office has archives for the southwest tribes. many offices have microfilmed records for several tribes. note that this web address has changed recently from nara.gov.

some links for the choctaw.
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/choctaw/index.htm
i looked at the land records and those need a lot of work. i have no information about whether or when they will improve some of these categories.

types of records available for native americans:
pages 366-369 in particular although the entire native american chapter is helpful.
The Genealogist’s Companion and Sourcebook:
Guide to the Resources You Need for Unpuzzling Your Past
Emily Anne Croom
you can ask for these particular pages from your local public library. if they don’t have the book, you can get the pages through the interlibrary loan program.
native american records are discussed in pages 352-386.

Tracing ancestors among the Five Civilized Tribes: Southeastern Indians …
By Rachal Mills Lennon
this book could be accessed through the interlibary loan program also.

always find the state archives. some records are online, some records are not. but many times you can find a record not found in other places. you want to see also about newspaper mentions for obituaries, births, marriages in particular.

check courts for probate, civil and criminal cases, marriage records.

if your ancestors lived on a reservation, they might not appear on a federal census because they were not taxed.
http://www.okgenweb.org/~okgarvin/kinard/1860index.htm
1860 census, indian territory.

this book is a good read about the dawes roll and how they implemented it.
The Dawes Commission and the allotment of the Five Civilized Tribes, 1893-1914
By Kent Carter

good advice about native research:
http://jenniferhsrn2.homestead.com/research2.html

if your relatives came from a different geographic location or belonged to a different tribe, try searching google for the state and tribes. you might find a contact for a state-recognized tribe or a federal recognized tribe.

i have collected many resources over the years. if you want to write to me, shamlet76@gmail.com and request the choctaw resource list, i will be glad to send it to you.

i am just a volunteer that wants to empower people to learn how to do genealogy.

Answer to questions – Robert Calvin Evans died in a mine explosion in Lutie, OK on November 29, 1930. The names and dates of births were found in the Bible of a daughter of A. Andy Evans. It also had the names of spouses.

good start.
it sounds as if you should get a copy of mary evans southern’s social security application, which would list her parents. then you can ask for her birth certificate or delayed birth certificate. she would need that document to show proof of age.

her marriage document might have one of her parents’ names as witnesses or give some vital information.

that would be my suggestion. so far, i would say that she could have been born in indian territory/oklahoma or arkansas. but she could also have been born in another state.

i don’t know why i couldn’t find the brothers on the world war I draft card file. maybe there were different dates? different names? or maybe i am just looking in the wrong places.

Looking on the internet of cemetaries in Sebastian County, AR, it states there is a Indian cemetery in Bonanza, AR It is a town just north of Hackett which some state that is where my g-grandmother was born. I intend to search that out when I go down home.
I am applying for my g-grandmother’s SS application.
Thanks again